BEN
White Girls by Hilton Als
“Wonderful collection of essays from this year. Als explores identity within society and self. Intellectual, poetic, and Junot Diaz’s must-read for the year.”
CAROLYN
The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich
“Fantastic! This book was given to me by a friend. It is composed of diary entries that Ehrlich wrote while living in Montana herding sheep. She left her life as a writer to have a bigger relationship with nature, and live among rough-and-tumble sheepherders who live a hermit-like life. Just them and the sheep.”
TOMMY
Unbreakable by W.C. Bauers
“Military sci-fi about space marines, very much in the vein of Starship Troopers, though more modern in content and writing. The main character is female = less misogyny! It’s about a female space marine who joins up to get away from her planet. Time skips after getting promoted, and she has to go back to her home planet to fight pirates. A good combination of action writing and character-driven storytelling.
JAN
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
“I read this book for Banned Books Week and loved it! Alexie’s is a super-important voice for young, old, Indians, white people, all the people. It took me back to my own high school days. I was having trauma flashbacks in a good way because it’s important for adults to remember what it’s like to be that age.”
WIL
Existence by David Brin
“Really, really, really, really good. Brin is a scientiest who writes sci-fi. He gives good aliens. Hard sci-fi, but a totally enjoyable.”
BookPeople 
I posted a recent 5* review (Amazon) on Hilton Al’s “White Girls”. A book about racism and cultural awareness/observation, Al’s also writes with fascinating insight about Truman Capote, Michael Jackson, Malcolm X, Emenem, Richard Pryor , also many others involved in the arts, his insight was articulate and fascinating. There were times when his language was a bit too gritty (bordering on vulgarity) but.. it is just as easy to overlook, considering how great this book is:)